Park City so far

I should be blogging more about the Grand Meetup so far. Let’s see. Monday I left New Orleans (after breakfast at IHOP with George and the boys)

IMG_5259

Fortunately, getting there was uneventful, which is the best you can really hope for.

When I arrived, I found some friends and we went off to the welcome party, which was a tad overwhelming, but great. Went to sleep way too late and woke up way too early yesterday.

But it was a gorgeous day. Mostly spent working, but we had a walking meeting outside.

image

I also got my Flash Talk done (everyone in the company has to give a 4 minute or less presentation on the topic of their choosing) which was a relief. Last year, I presented a video, so I just had to stand there while it played. This year I actually had to, you know, speak. So that was a bit trickier. But I pulled it off without mumbling too much, I think. (My topic was based on this blog post – it was 10 things I hear as a mom of triplets.)

Anyway, went to bed early last night after a workshop on Lightroom given by a coworker, so I’m excited to go take some more photos (with my actual camera and not my phone) and test out the new tips I learned.

Another post

It’s hard to just…write another post. I hate that the post about Gareth won’t be the first post anymore. (I mean, I know I could make it sticky, but that’s kind of not the point, right?) I hate that all I have to write about now is just every day stuff. As if we’re all not still in shock.

We’re trying to make ourselves useful. Planning a memorial. Trying to take care of his family who is coming in from Wales. I’ll be out of town for the memorial, so I’m just trying to do my part by making the slideshow.

Anyway. Real life.

I took the boys to get flu shots yesterday. We’ve been going to the same CVS Minute Clinic for a few years now, and so they don’t get freaked out, and are cool as cucumbers. It’s almost like a competition to see who can flinch the least.

IMG_5205

Oliver and I had our one-on-one dinner last night and he chose Waffle House. And it turns out, we’re regulars there now. When we walked in, the waitress said, “it’s the twins!” but she meant me and Oliver, not Oliver and his brothers. Which was cute. And kids eat free Monday – Thursday, so he’s a cheap date.

IMG_5213

Okay. That’s enough real life for now.

Rest in peace, Gareth

We lost a friend this weekend, and I just wanted to share to everyone who didn’t know him what a great person Gareth was. This isn’t going to be eloquent, I just need to get the words out.

We’ve known Gareth for, gosh, I guess at least 11 years? I’m not really sure. I do remember the first conversation I ever had with him. It was about our wedding planning, and he was telling me something about the royal wedding. You know, the Charles and Diana one. I don’t remember what he told me about it, though. Just that we chatted about it.

503919739_21cebe8357_oWhen George and I were planning our honeymoon to London, he urged us to take a few days and visit the Welsh town he grew up in, Hay-on-Wye. So we did.

Our wedding was just a couple of months after Katrina, and he’d stayed behind for the storm. Anytime our wedding came up in conversation later, he’d always say, “Pammy…that was the best wedding ever. Great party.” So many people needed the celebration, not least of all him.

I searched my blog for a mention of Gareth, and the only one I found was that he came to visit me in the hospital before I had the boys. Because that’s the kind of guy he was, even though I’m sure he’d have rather been anywhere else on earth.

In June, grossing me out with his bloody eye.
At our friend’s wedding in August
In our backyard in 2007.
At the pub prom in 2006.
At prom in 2006
In a friend’s yard in 2007.
On the levee in 2007.

Screenshot 2015-10-05 12.02.14When the neighborhood was raising funds for a friends’ son’s surgery, Gareth showed us all up by donating a huge amount. He had been saving it up for something special, but gave it to the surgery fund instead. He was so generous in that way.

Wearing a suit in July.
Wearing a suit in July.

In July, there was a Proms-themed birthday party for friends at the pub. July in New Orleans. The man wore a suit, vest, and tie in the sweltering heat, because that’s what a gentleman wears to the Proms, and to honor his dear friends.

Gareth had two dogs, Owen and Lizzie. They were always with him. They are the sweetest dogs, and the first dogs the boys were not scared of. (Don’t worry, Owen and Lizzie are being well taken care of now.)

Anyway. There are a million stories to be told. A million memories. A million laughs.

Cheers, you crazy Welshman. We’ll miss you so much.

IMG_7733

 

 

 

 

 

Soccer, week 3: Crushing defeat

Well, we warned them that not all games were going to be 22-1 victories.

The game started out somewhat unbalanced. The boys were playing against a team of all girls – and not that I’m sexist, blah blah blah, but these girls were tiny compared to the boys.

IMG_8489

This girl was throwing Miles some major side-eye. Look how much taller he is than her!

IMG_8522

IMG_8491

So yeah, they’re feeling pretty good about themselves.

IMG_8548-2

But then after the first quarter, the coaches decided to make things fairer for everyone, and shuffled all the kids around. They ended up playing against other kids on their own team instead of the other team.

IMG_8551
Oh, this is fun, we’re playing against our teammates!

But it quickly became obvious that this time, they were on the weaker side.

IMG_8581

This pretty much summed it up:

IMG_8585

But they were still having fun, so it’s all good. For the last quarter, they were re-teamed with the identical twins.

IMG_8604

Look, two sets of DNA out of five kids!

IMG_8607

IMG_8616

Miles was doing pretty well going after the ball, but as the game went on, Linus and Oliver just seemed to wilt under the crushing defeat. Sigh.

It wasn’t pretty, and we had to have a serious talk about sportsmanship, and losing, and trying hard, and practicing, etc etc.

So. Hopefully next week, we’ll see an improvement in attitudes, if not skills.

No more yellow tooth!

One of the ways you were able to identify Linus quickly was by his yellow tooth. It was the result of a damaged baby tooth, so when the permanent tooth came in, it had a yellow spot on it. I didn’t want him to get teased about it (and he did, at camp this past summer) so I talked to our dentist about how we could get it fixed. Turns out, it wasn’t a huge big deal.

Before:

IMG_5043

The dentist sanded down the tooth a little where the spot was and then (well, then he gave Linus a little novocaine because he said it hurt, and that was funny because novocaine is super weird if you’ve never experienced it – he kept asking if his lip was big and puffy) put in some kind of tooth putty and then shone a light on it and then voila!

IMG_5048

White tooth!

IMG_5050

New sweet white smile: (Hard to get a really good picture because his lip was still numb.)

IMG_5055

He was pretty happy about it.

IMG_5051

But now you’re going to have to figure out a different way to tell him apart.

Social media roundup

Some random pics from social media recently:

Thanks Timehop for this comparison.

Friday night, we celebrated my friend Terry’s birthday with a Frida Kahlo themed party.

Oliver accidentally put on my socks and they’re not too big. Well, I mean, they’re a little too big, but not ridiculously so, like they should be.

If anyone could answer this for me, I’d really appreciate it:

On Facebook, a teacher friend whose daughter is in Linus’s class posted this on my wall:

Screenshot 2015-09-28 08.07.22.png

Linus is featured in his very own chant, complete with hand clapping and counting! Could I be any prouder?

Miles had fun chatting with my coworkers on Slack. I had to stop him from live chatting with customers, though.

Screenshot 2015-09-28 08.09.10.png

Soccer, week 2

IMG_8310
Before the game. All three finally healthy! I think Oliver was trying to look tough here.
IMG_8435
And then this happened…Linus got sold to the other team.
IMG_8440
Awkward!

There wasn’t a complete rout of the other team like there was last week (because they switched things up halfway through, we weren’t sure what the score was anyway) which I was happy about because I think the boys learned a bit of humility this week. And also they saw that some of the other players weren’t displaying good sportsmanship, so I think they kind of are getting the point now. But they had fun, and played well, and that’s the key.

I’m much happier with my photos this week. Last week was so sunny and I had a lot of issues with focus and color. I got tips from some of my coworkers who are fantastically talented and it helped a lot. Of course, it also helped that it was overcast. I hope next weekend is sunny again so I can keep working on my skillz.

Another one bites the dust

Why do I ignore my instincts?

sickmilesMiles fell asleep on the sofa at 7:30 Sunday night. I should have known right then and there that he was sick. Sure enough, yesterday afternoon I got a call from the school nurse that he had a fever. So I took him to the pediatrician and he has tonsillitis. So not even the same thing Oliver had.

But then this morning, Linus woke up with a croupy cough and a sore throat. Oliver’s sickness started with a croupy cough. So I decided just to keep him home from school. May as well. Guess I’ll take him to the doctor this afternoon. Why not?!?

But there was something really sweet to come out of all this. Last night, Miles was sleeping on the sofa, just burning up (one thermometer was saying 104 but the other said 101, so WHO KNOWS) and Oliver was stroking his head, worried about his sick brother. So sweet. Later on, when I was able to get Miles into bed, Oliver helped tuck him in and brought him his favorite stuffed animals. Gah.

In other news, my latest post on the New Orleans Moms Blog is up. Check it out!

ruined